Join The Community
Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow (2004)
Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (1982)
The Captain: James T. Kirk (William Shatner) was the captain of the USS Enterprise, and was the original Star Trek captain. Chris Pine played him in the reboot in 2009. One day we hope to see them in the same film. Well, we can dream, can't we?
Article continues belowThe Awesome: For this particular film, Kirk takes on his old adversary Khan, who has escaped exile. This film steered away from the first film and went back to the original series' identity.
The African Queen (1951)
The Captain: Charlie Allnut is the captain of African Queen. He's a rather coarse Canadian who delivers mail and supplies to siblings Samuel and Rose Sayer.
The Awesome: Humphrey Bogart won his only Oscar for the role of the boat captain who, despite being a rough and ready man, wins over Katharine Hepburn and marries her.
Doesn't get much more awesome than that.
Dr Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb (1964)
The Captain: Group Captain Lionel Mandrake is just one of Peter Seller's three characters in the film. Mandrake is the man who allows an attack on the Soviet Union but then needs to stop it.
The Awesome: Dr Strangelove is, simply, one of the best political satires of all time. Peter Sellers teaming up with Stanley Kubrick. Peter Sellers playing multiple characters before Eddie Murphy tarnished it. Epic awesome.
Captain Ron (1992)
The Captain: The title character, Captain Ron, is played by Kurt Russell, an eye-patch wearing sailor, who is hired to take a middle-class family around the Caribbean on a yacht.
The Awesome: The last time Kurt Russell donned an eye-patch was for his role as Snake Plissken. This time he's much friendlier, quirkier and Russell's comedic performance is downright brilliant.
Moby Dick (1956)
The Captain: Captain Ahab is the captain of the ship Pequod, and seeks the legendary sperm whale, Moby Dick, which took his leg and destroyed his boat on a previous encounter.
The Awesome: One of the greatest captains in the history of literature captured on screen. Gregory Peck perfectly harnesses the character's obsession with hunting down that whale.
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
The Captain: Tom Hanks plays Capt. John H. Miller, the leader of the team of eight men who set out to find Private Ryan, the last remaining brother of four servicemen.
The Awesome: Hanks's lead gets the team through thick and thin, from the landing on Omaha Beach, to a sniper, to German forces.
It costs him his life, but Ryan is eternally grateful.
The Hunt For Red October (1990)
The Captain: Marko Ramius is the commanding officer of the Red October, an undetectable Soviet submarine which is feared to be planning an attack on the U.S.
The Awesome: Sean Connery, mostly. He plays the captain who plans to defect, alongside Alec Baldwin's Jack Ryan. The film was one of the most critically acclaimed of the year.
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004)
The Captain: Steve Zissou is an eccentric oceanographer who wants to take revenge on the jaguar shark that ate his best friend Esteban on his last project.
The Awesome: Bill Murray puts in a brilliant performance as Zissou under regular collaborator Wes Anderson. Murray was expected by many to receive an Oscar nom as the title character, but would the Academy ever be that cool?
Pirates Of The Caribbean (2003-2011)
The Captain: Geoffrey Rush's Captain Barbossa took the Black Pearl from Jack Sparrow and they've been in a battle for it ever since.
The Awesome: The first film is where Barbossa is at his finest. As the captain of the cursed ship, he becomes a skeletal nightmare at sunset, along with the rest of his crew.
